10 September 2026
By Mohamad Al As – New Straits Times
KUALA LUMPUR: George Town in Penang has been awarded the Silver Award at the second Asean Smoke-free Awards, recognising its achievements in implementing and enforcing smoke-free policies to protect public health.
The awards were presented today during the opening ceremony of the 17th Asean Health Ministers’ Meeting here.
The initiative is led by the Laotian government under the Asean Health Cluster 1, in cooperation with the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) and the Asean Secretariat.
Baguio City in the Philippines took the Gold Award, while five local governments from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand received Bronze Awards.
Singapore received a Special Recognition certificate for its consistent and outstanding smoke-free enforcement.
SEATCA executive director Dr Ulysses Dorotheo said the awards demonstrated that strict and firmly enforced smoke-free policies were both achievable and necessary in the fight against tobacco.
“This year’s awardees demonstrate that strict and firmly enforced smoke-free policies are achievable and necessary if millions of lives are to be saved from the deadly tobacco epidemic,” he said.
He said SEATCA would continue working with the awarded cities to build on their achievements, and expressed confidence that other governments in the region would draw inspiration from their example.
“Local governments are demonstrating that smoke-free environments can and must become the standard all over the region by firmly resisting challenges from the tobacco industry and by placing public health first,” he said.
The Laotian Health Ministry said the second edition of the awards reflected the region’s shared commitment to translating high-level Asean commitments into real protections for its people.
The Asean Smoke-free Awards builds on the “Towards a Smoke-free Asean” campaign initiated in March 2012 at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Singapore.
The inaugural ceremony was held in Vientiane, Laos in August 2024, when Iloilo City in the Philippines received the first-ever Gold Award.